Postgame Respite
by NinNinKakizaki2015
Summary: He thought he had lost everything. She just wanted to be with him again. Nightwing x Zatanna.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, DC or any of its characters.**

Bludhaven. February 14, 11:00 PM

A lone figure makes his way through the darkness of the city he now comes to call home. Using the shadows as cover, he stealthily scales the walls of an apartment building, facing away from the main roads while keeping his wits intact to avoid being seen. Through careful timing, the man was finally able to sneak his way into an open window.

Recognized. Nightwing. B-01

Security protocols were still intact. Good. That's one less thing to worry about for the night. Taking off his mask and tossing it aside, the man named Nightwing collapsed on a nearby chair, the night's patrolling taking its toll on him. That aside, there was still some work left to do before he could call it a night. Shrugging off his fatigue, Nightwing brought up his holographic laptop from his wristwatch, and began working his way through some case files.

Two planned robberies to take place tomorrow night. Dealt with the day before. An attempted assassination on the chief of police. Prevented before the crook had the chance to act. A mob boss to take refuge in Bludhaven late next week. Will look into that as soon as possible.

While Nightwing skimmed through his data files, he was contemplating over the events that happened on June 20 of the previous year. The very same day that the world seemed to end for him. A combined effort by both the Justice League and the Team to prevent a world apocalypse courtesy of the Black Beetle. A valiant effort on all fronts to prevent what seemed to be the inevitable. Only to be met at a cost.

The loss of a close friend.

Wally West, known as the Kid Flash, was a valued member of the Team since its foundation 5 years ago. While immature at times, his efforts were pure; to protect the world from super-powered and unnatural crimes. Heck, even Nightwing was immature back then, back when he started his career as Robin before the foundation of the Team.

Wally West and Dick Grayson had known each other outside of their vigilante lives. Despite Batman's strict protocol on keeping the identity of Robin a secret, it was a secret that Dick could entrust Wally to keep, thus striking up a sense of trust and camaraderie between the two heroes.

They would have each other's backs during missions. Well, once the Team eventually learned to collaborate and work together. They were an unstoppable force: Kid Flash's insurmountable speed combined with Robin's keen intellect. Nothing seemed to stand in their way…

Until Wally's sacrifice on June 20 of last year.

It has approximately been 8 months since that incident. Even to this day, Dick, now as Nightwing, could not put it to past. He had already experienced two heavy losses; one involving his family, the other, a friend. Nightwing had been trained to keep his emotions in check, which he did on a regular basis. However, nowadays it seemed that this skill was becoming somewhat lacking.

He had to pull out of the Team to collect his thoughts. Leaving command under Aqualad, Nightwing took a "leave of absence" from the whole crime-fighting gig. Or so he wanted everyone else to think.

"Business as usual, huh?"

Despite taking his leave, Nightwing could never abandon his everlasting mission to hunt down crime. Maybe it was because of his many years under the influence of Batman. Nevertheless, he just couldn't sit back and relax while crimes were being committed on a frequent and daily basis.

"Gragh!"

A sharp pain seared across Nightwing's right shoulder. Oh right, it was from that scuffle he had with a group of armed thugs that he just came back from. Surprisingly enough, one of those thugs carried a knife that was sharp enough the cut through the reinforced kevlar material that made up his suit. Nightwing had a hunch that it might've been a LexCorp product. Lex Luthor still posed a threat against Wayne Enterprises in terms of competing with technology. He would have to remind Bruce about that.

Cursing himself for being careless, Nightwing pulled out a first aid kid and began fumbling with some stitches. He carefully removed the shoulder pad on his suit and examined the cut. It was a rather deep cut. Thankfully the bleeding had already stopped, but the cut still needed to be treated.

_ "__Dnem eht dnouw."_

The stitches flew out of Nightwing's fingers and laced themselves onto his shoulder, effectively stitching up his wound. Puzzled at first, Nightwing soon recovered his wits and deduced that there could be only one possibility for that occurrence.

"How long have you been lurking there?"

"Long enough, as far as I can tell," came a distinctively feminine voice. Zatanna emerged from the shadows, dressed in civilian clothes. "See you're still at it."

"See that you're still persistent," Nightwing shot back. "Look, whatever it is, I'm not going back. The League, the Team, they can do fine without me."

Zatanna was expecting that kind of answer, but she wasn't the type of person who was going to give up that easily.

"Look, Dick, no good is going to come out of this if you keep brooding over the past," she tried to explain. "Even Kaldur and Barbara are having trouble with…"

"I told you I'm not coming back!" Nightwing shouted, probably a little louder than he had wanted. To him, this was justified, as he was getting slightly irritated at the Team for constantly pestering him for his return.

"But….."

"You don't even know how it feels, do you? Living life under the gun, regretting every decision you've made, hoping that there was something you could've done to prevent things from happening…"

"Dick, that's not what I meant….."

But Nightwing wasn't going to let her off easily. He was literally fuming while he shouted, "Seeing your family getting killed right before your eyes, seeing your best friend perish indirectly in the hands of the enemy, have you ever experienced that? Huh?"

Zatanna couldn't take it. Whatever she was going to say, it had nothing to do with neither the League nor the Team. However, Nightwing managed to strike a nerve, on a topic that she had wanted to forget about.

"You think I don't know how it feels? That's pathetic, even for you Dick."

Angry tears began welling up in the magician's eyes as she screamed at the man, "You don't even remember that I also have no family now! It's you who doesn't know how I feel, working with someone you love, yet knowing that he'll never be the same ever again!"

Zatanna was referring to when her father, the renowned magician Zatara, donned the Helmet of Fate to become the permanent host of Nabu, taking the role of Doctor Fate once and for all. It was all to protect her from suffering that dreaded destiny.

"You know that he's there, but at the same time he isn't! You think that there's any fate worse than death? There you have it!"

Nightwing didn't seem fazed by Zatanna's sudden outburst. In fact, he was actually more riled up than ever before; for once in his life losing his cool, calm demeanour, unlike how he usually handled situations.

"At least he's still alive! How does that compare to what I've gone through? My parents, Wally, they're gone forever, and it's all my….."

SMACK!

That did it. Zatanna couldn't stand it anymore. She kept her hand in position, frozen in midair right where she slapped him while Nightwing staggered a little, taking full impact of the blow.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Zatanna finally spoke.

"Why don't you understand?" she whispered silently, thinking to herself that she finally got to what she had hoped to talk about. "I've been alone all this time, with only Rocket to keep me company. Even with the Team now working alongside the Justice League, it's just not the same without….."

"Zee,"

Zatanna gasped. It had definitely been quite a while ago since he called her that. And those moments when he did were too precious for her to forget about.

"I'm sorry, I overreacted a little. It's just that, all this time being alone and all, I guess I forgot what it was like to talk to people."

"No," Zatanna said as she gently rubbed Nightwing's face where she struck him. "I'm sorry for suddenly lashing out like that. I mean, it's been so long, I don't even….."

"You mean after we broke up."

"Yeah, something like that."

"I see."

Another couple of minutes silence of not knowing what to say to one another. Surely there must have been a way to lighten the mood, but given the previous circumstances, it wasn't going to be easy.

Nightwing spoke up first. "How's the case with Vandal Savage going?"

"No leads as of yet, none of us know what he may be planning."

"Well, I'm sure you'll all be able to figure it out soon. Heck, this doesn't even concern me, since I abandoned everyone..."

"Dick, will you just listen for once!"

Zatanna was frustrated at how Nightwing was constantly berating himself for everything that happened during the events of last year. It seemed as though everyone, including Artemis, were eventually able to get over Wally's death, but…..

"This isn't about Savage, or Wally, or anything work-related for that matter. I just thought that, well, you were lonely, having been away from the Team for this long. I mean, I feel lonely…"

"…"

"Ever since Batman announced that the Team would be working side-by-side with the League, I couldn't help but feel a little selfishly happy, since it would mean that you would be joining us. All this time, I've been waiting for the moment you, Conner, M'Gann, and the others would be inducted into the League. But then, you just had to take your "leave of absence" for who knows how long."

Nightwing shifted a little, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Even after we broke up, part of me felt that wasn't the right thing to do. Who cares if duty comes before our personal lives?" Zatanna was crying freely now. "Why is it that we have to burden ourselves so?"

"And you Dick, blaming yourself for Wally's death! It's not all entirely your fault! Stop making it seem like it!"

Another moment of silence. Nightwing ran Zatanna's words through his head a little.

"Well?"

"If you're done here, you may go. I'll just wait outside…"

As Nightwing turned to leave, Zatanna flung herself at him, holding him in place while crying profusely into his back.

"Don't you see?" Zatanna said through muffled sobs, "I miss you, the old you, the one who actually cared about what went around him, the one who could crack a joke despite the dangerous situations he's been put in…."

"Zee, I….."

Zatanna forcibly turned Nightwing around so that they were face-to-face.

"Kiss me."

"Wha…?"

"I said kiss me, it's Valentine's Day you idiot."

They stared into each other's eyes. It was quite rare for anyone to see Dick Grayson's eyes up close, without the mask and all. They were piercing and calculative, though they could be warm and passionate at times.

But Nightwing couldn't bring himself to do it. There was just too much self-doubt within him. He tried to break away.

"I'm sorry, I just can't…"

But Zatanna wasn't going to let him off easily. Grabbing the back of his head, she forced his lips onto hers, locking them in place.

To be honest, it wasn't quite that long ago since their last kiss, but to the two heroes, it felt like ages, eons even, since they were ever engaged into such an intimate interaction.

Nightwing and Zatanna continued to stand there into the night, the moonlight glazing down on them through the open window as they prolonged the kiss, neither wanting to let go of this heartfelt sensation. The unmasked vigilante and the inarticulate magician, united at long last.

"Looks like you've still got it in you," Zatanna said as they finally broke the kiss. She smiled at the man before her, tears having long since dried up.

"Heck, I guess I'm kinda feeling a little whelmed, maybe with some of the aster thrown in there."

Zatanna giggled. There was the old Dick Grayson that she came to know and love. She had achieved what she set out to do, and that was to get her boyfriend back.

"So, tomorrow afternoon at 2:00?"

"Will that be a date?"

"We'll see, Wonder Boy," Zatanna smirked as she made her way towards the door. Just as she was about to leave, she added, "You still haven't told me to return your apartment keys yet."

"Nah, no need," Nightwing crossed his arms. "Besides, you don't need any set of keys to get you places. We'll still be seeing more of each other now, won't we?"

Zatanna only smiled as she closed the door behind her. Nightwing confirmed her departure by hearing the all-too-familiar "poof", telling him that Zatanna had just disappeared out of sight.

Nightwing sighed as he collapsed in bed as he was about to call it a night. He rubbed his shoulder where Zatanna had stitched up for him, remembering that he hadn't thanked her yet.

Well, there were all lot of things for him to be thankful to her about. Just a while ago, he was on the verge of distancing himself from everyone for what would seem like forever. Only Zatanna made him realize that he was putting the blame of last year's events on himself, snapping him from his self-induced stupor.

Indeed, if anyone was lucky to be dating the most magical girlfriend ever, it was him. And he wasn't going to change that anytime soon.

**A/N: So I'm entering the world of Young Justice fiction. Watching the show really got me into shipping Dick and Zatanna, despite my initial thoughts on how weird it was. Anyways, if you've read this, please leave a kind review, and thanks for dropping by!**


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